


Theory of Everything

by restofourtimes



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Angst, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-04
Updated: 2018-01-04
Packaged: 2019-02-28 06:36:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13265763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/restofourtimes/pseuds/restofourtimes
Summary: "Teppei, what is your theory of me?"She asked with a smile he never knew she had, she asked with a voice he never knew he would miss it so badly in the future





	1. Paradox

**Author's Note:**

> Each science concepts drawn in this fic is purely fictional and do not reflect with any of scientific theory/concepts. Therefore, it does not hold any purpose except for the sake of story plot creation. Happy reading!
> 
> This work is also uploaded under the account name of floaps on Wattpad. Feeling like uploading it in AO3 due to the emptiness of my works here (aka just simply lazy)

The bright stare coming out from his eyes was no longer exist. Everyone realized this change of him, but none dare to say a word. The guy himself didn't even feel the need of a slight moment to care of explaining what he faced at the moment, when he knew no one could help him in this paradox.

Paradox?

Maybe it was an exaggeration, but he didn't care. What he felt now was beyond real, though the thoughts themselves are surreal as it could be. The moment he dared to open his eyes at the cruel sound of his alarm blast, he was sure the darkness is all he can see.

Though for a single moment, he swore her face came again.

Then the darkness filled falling into places, until his iris let a slight sun rays leaked through the window to appear in his range of sight.

If the darkness was led to a certain figure and was led to another darkness couldn't meet any nearer to the definition of mind cages, mind paradox, or mind crystal structure, he swore this problem would have been solved years ago.

_"Teppei..."_

He winches at the memories replaying.

_"...why are we so curious about the Theory of Everything?"_

He tried so hard to stop the frames by squeezing his temples hardly, only to make a scratch mark visible on his skin sooner or later.

And he remembers his answer to her.

" _Well, this is just my opinion, but maybe because us, human, cannot continue to live with unanswered question sticking out in the back of our mind?"_

He remembered you sighed in defeat, certainly not quite satisfied with his answer but you still cannot put up with a proof of objection.

_"I expected a not-so-serious answer, where does the goofy joke go?" You pouted._

And he remembered how he felt a sudden urge to squeeze your cheeks. Today he swore he never feel this much regret before of not doing that in the past.

_"I thought you want to know my opinion, well, let me try to come up with another version." He puts up a grin when he saw your sparkled eyes came to reality again. He always love how you be curious and excited to know his opinion, his thought, and his words. He loves how you stare at him in anticipation. He loves that how you always genuinely cling into his arm and told him, how you love his oh-so-proper way of thinking._

Kiyoshi remembered how the next answer he told her that morning,

_"Maybe because we feel for a certain person or thing to exist as everything, so we want to know the truth why he or she or it becomes everything in our eyes. Well, for my case it's a 'she'" He gave you a relaxing wink._

He remembered how you quickly pulled the blanket to cover your face, though he couldn't see at that time, but a gush of happy feeling wrapped his heart at the probability of you blush.

" _Ugh, i don't ask for a pick up lines!"_

But you were smiling beneath the blanket, because when Kiyoshi forcefully pulled those white sheets away, he catches a small curve framed a side of your face.

_"Hey, look at me." He asked, and you shyly moved your stare to look at him._

_"Good morning, and I love you."_

_Your voice were shaking. You don't know why because last night was clearly not the first time you spent together with him, but the way of those words coming out from Kiyoshi, with those warmth stare that somehow appeared to promise saving you._

_"I love you too, Teppei..."_

\---

**4 years ago**

" _What do you mean, Franz?!" Kiyoshi could not believe what he had just heard from his colleague._

_"It turns out... Kenshira's absence for the past two meetings were not because he was frustated or sick with the project..." The man called Franz on the other line paused for a moment, the way he took his breath somehow sounded a little bit worrying in Kiyoshi's ear._

_"...have you ever heard about Hanamiya Technology?"_

_Kiyoshi furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, why did his colleague suddenly change the topic. But it didn't take long for the scientist to connect the puzzle._

_After a moment of silence, Kiyoshi quickly muttered his thought before Franz could explain any further._

_"Don't say that our project is..."_

_Franz was getting more panic than the first tone he used in this call, "Yes. They knew."_

_"They knew about our project."_

_Kiyoshi took a deep breath, when he soon realized that it was hard to stay composed when something... or someone, chased over his project._

_The project itself was not at all major, only three people involved. All from different science background, and Kiyoshi was responsible for the physics part. Kenshira, the guy where his name mentioned in the call was responsible for the Mathematic Modeling where Franz, was responsible for the computational simulation. It was clearly not the most published project despite the bright brains involved in it. The reason was rather pessimistic, because the three colleagues believed that despite this project goal would still be in a novel level, the project itself was not the most mainstream work in this world._

_It was about the Theory of Everything. The three scientist were having some reunion in an old coffee shop at Tokyo, well the main reason is due to Franz was losing his vote over both Japanese scientist, Kenshira and Kiyoshi, that argued it's more convenient to meet up in Japan. The reunion soon led to an exciting arguments and conversations between the three though not even a single one of them rejects the big chance of M-Theory to be the best candidate for Theory of Everything. Soon, Franz was implying the crazy idea to start a project of new modification to M-Theory until the level it can be modeled and practically simulated. The three of them were so engulfed in this idea though each of them realized the danger that inevitably follow the project, which led to another basic rule of this work to give a high level of secrecy._

_There have been three years since the project starts, and though the three of them sometimes still think the progress of the project to be unbelievably fast, they were really happy that the result was indeed promising. The first simulation was showing some errors but the next works came afterwards were always convergent. It was only one simulation left until the model results can be compared and analysis, when on the last meeting where the three of them present, they were sure that the analysis won't be much important with the previous promising simulation results._

_Then somehow a problem had occured. A really big one. It doesn't take a great detective to find the problem source where the villain himself getting his hand do the dirty work. The project leaked, and Hanamiya Technology was having all ears on it._

_Maybe Franz and Kenshira knew better than Kiyoshi about Hanamiya Technology and whatever good or bad deeds that company had done. Yet, Kiyoshi is the person who is at least to be the closest person instead of the other colleagues about the person behind the company. Well, 'close relation' cannot be easily used to describe his relation with the CEO. Maybe Kiyoshi and the CEO can also be considered as stranger, considering how they interact each other in the past._

_Even though that they did, once, played in the same school's basketball team._   
  


_"Kenshira is dead, Teppei..." Franz voice brought Kiyoshi back to the reality and he knew that this problem is way bigger than he expected._

_"They're really after the equation?"_

_Franz struggled to keep his breath but eventually managed to answer his colleague, "Yeah, and I think the simulation result though."_

_"I wasn't really aware that such companies would believe this project, after all the scientist had been soaring all around about TOE and no one really cares. Why now..."_

_"I don't know too, Teppei, but take care yourself. I think we should cut off our contact for--"_

_A loud scream suddenly cuts Franz words and followed with another tone signaling the call was dead._

No way. They got Franz too?

_\---_

_Kiyoshi never thought this project would be this extreme, the value. At the beginning it was just a free time kind of project among the three brilliant scientist, yet when they got the result, they knew the equation may shake the science world with such finding of Theory of Everything. But he never expected that such knowledge would lead to a tragic incident._

_"Why did you kill her, Hanamiya?!" For the first time in Kiyoshi's life, he lost control._

_Hanamiya put a small grin, not so small to hide the manic side of his thought._

_"You got the TOE, you don't want to give it to me, is there any other efficient way to get it from you beside threatening you with your oh-so-precious girl?"_

_The grip Kiyoshi puts up on Hanamiya's collar tighten, as he wanted to crush the guy in front of him, yet he wanted to know the truth first. He knew Hanamiya is different and cruel, but he never expected to this level..._

_"You think you would have different fate just because you have her as deposit? You think i would stop getting the TOE just because you think i couldn't touch you and her?"_

_Hanamiya chuckled, there are no fears in his eyes though he knew too well Kiyoshi could punch him anytime. Or worse._

_"You love her."_

_Hanamiya quickly cuts,_

_"Morooon, the moment she chose you the more i have the reason to kill her, don't you think?"_

_A loud sound marked the punch Kiyoshi finally gave to Hanamiya, where the later laughs manically despite the pain._

_"Why must you involve her?!"_

_"Cut the questions, trash. I already told you the reason and why don't you stop wasting her death and quickly join my company. I may or may not tell you what are her last words..."_

_Knowing the value of key Hanamiya has on his pocket, he himself chuckled once again seeing the change of Kiyoshi's face._

_At that point, there were so many things involved in Kiyoshi's brain. And it was too much to bear to not let his life goes on in the current his old teammate has created._


	2. Memory is just an electrons swarm

_"Good morning." You smiled so cheerfully, almost looking innocent, you look like you don't give a single care about what the actual time you just woke up._

_"It's 1 PM, [Name]." Kiyoshi glanced at your direction, his face clearly showed the frustation on how many fail attempts he had tried to wake you up. But it doesn't make his smile fade away just that._

_You chuckled in guilt, "The rain sound was a lullaby, Teppei! And look at this weather, let's go to sleep again..."_

_His strong arm wrapped your waist in a swift motion, holding you from going back to the bedroom._

_"Lazy. And you haven't even eat. Take care your lifestyle, [Name]." He put a soft flick on your forehead, but you smiled anyway. It's one of those calm Sunday before the realization of working on Monday coming to both of your minds. And it's just making you happy at how domestic and ordinary time you spent with your fiancé like this. Seeing him submerged into those stacks of papers._

_"What paper are you reading now?"_

_A question that you ask almost everyday. You know it's not normal to separate your fiancé from papers. You know how much he loves science and his projects, and those opinions and discoveries the unread paper had served for him like a gem beneath a treasure box. And you always admire his cleverness, his urge to keep learning, his way of thinking that inspire you to seek further in what you're good at._

_"This time about Material Informatics," Kiyoshi replied._

_You raised your eyebrows, "Wow, never thought you ever need that kind of field. I thought that is too general and macroscopic, no?"_

_Kiyoshi smiled though normally, there's nothing to be smiled at, but it's just Kiyoshi being Kiyoshi. You swore you almost couldn't recall a moment when Kiyoshi is not smiling. Well, maybe there are one or two events such as when you both come into a fight. Or when you skipped a meal and working late, or when you carelessly jogged to the convenience store at night._

_"You're right. It's actually not connected to any project right now, but a friend asked me about this field and I'm curious about it somehow,"_

_You stroked his hair casually, "What a lovely friend my guy is..."_

_He huffed in annoyance, yet the smile returns, "You really like to treat me like a child, ne?"_

_His hand grabbed yours, stopping your movement. Reluctantly pulled you closer, while you knew he also stopped from his paper. His face facing yours, you didn't know it was this close between you at the moment._

_"It's really weird because who's the one calling me sensei last night?" He throws an unexpected question suddenly, and you can't help but struggle yourself away from him._

_"Oh my god. I am so embarassed right now!"_

_You run away, not fast enough because both of his arms locked you once again, only to embraced you tighter._

_"I did give you more time to sleep this morning because i am a considerate human being knowing how tired you are from last night," Kiyoshi winked, and suddenly stole a kiss on a side of your neck. Very casual and swift to let you realize what just happened. At the end you just need to surrender on how good he is on those surprise acts._

_"Teppei!" You scolded weakly._

_"Hmm?" His arms stayed still, only to give you less freedom to move. His lips slowly traced your neck and somehow turned to a brief stop when it reached your collarbones._

_"I just woke up, for god's sake."_

_"Don't care. You distract me, first." He murmured in the same position, only to give you ticklish feeling on your skins. The cold breeze that the rain brought doesn't seem to be working at all._

_"You distract me, always."_

_He gives you another soft kiss and you sighed in surrender._

_\---_

_"I love you, [Name]"_

_You smiled, and Kiyoshi felt another relief seeing it._

_"I love you too," You replied, your mind itself actually was only half aware on the saying, as you were busy reading the lines Dan Brown had written in his Origin._

_"I love you." He said once again, knowing how you tried so hard to divide your concentration on your reading and still listening to him. But Kiyoshi was trying to make another record on distracting you._

_He found that to be a quite amusing activity._

_"I know," You replied, more distracted than before as his fingers tapped on your waists when wrapping you to lean at his chest._

_You both were staying awake at the rest of your Sunday, you with your book sitting in front of him, or more like on him. Casually._

_And he sat at the same couch, embracing you with both hands again locked you to stay still. His eyes sometime wander to see what the TV screen had puts up now. With you reading your new Novel, he got the slot today to continue watching his favorite documentary show._

_But it turned out he prefers distracting you more._

_"I miss you,"_

_You stopped from your reading, your older man is getting weird by judging what his words are._

_"I am here, Teppei." You glanced at him._

_And you were surprised that there is a slight view hiding behind those smiley eyes._

_"What's wrong?" You demanded, now you began to think whether he really just distracted you out of boredom or there's something else._

_Kiyoshi quickly tried to cover his expression, but he cannot lie for his answer._

_This is not the first time for you to find Kiyoshi looking suddenly changed. You knew what kind of man he is, you cannot lie how clever he is. And you already learned how he sometimes thinking too far... and those what ifs._

_"I just wondered..." he answered, but his eyes are still fixed on the TV screen. Where you looked at him intensely._

_"You know superheroes movies? Or those tales of people where their jobs are so physical."_

_You waited for his explanation to finish. Somehow you felt his embrace grew tighter._

_"So physical that they let their human construction to be put under such great forces involved in their jobdesk."_

_"You mean like mafia or gangster?"_

_"Anything. Police and soldiers too. Where their jobs demanded such physical threats."_

_"What did you wonder about them?"_

_Kiyoshi smiled ironically, "Remember our agreement on how humans are basically animals? And how they tend to react on whatever actions and environment put up them for?"_

_You smiled, your minds wander to those long arguments between you and Kiyoshi at Negishi line you and him use for going back home from work. Which ended at your win convincing him that humans are indeed animals._

_"Of course, it's one of my proud achievement to be rarely succeeded over your arguments."_

_Kiyoshi chuckled, he does love your childishness when it comes to arguments and competition. It reminds him on how young you were compared to him and how much he wants to protect you. Though seven years age gap may not so big after all on these days._

_"I wonder about that, if humans are so reactive, then would those people with those jobs are acting differently compared to the civil ones like us?"_

_You furrowed in confusion, "What do you mean?"_

_"I wonder what it feels like to have been so close to death. It must be making you seeing the world differently."_

_You listen, and he knows how heavy this topic is. But that's another thing Kiyoshi was grateful of you for. You always accept him for whatever he was, you always listened to him, sometimes he wonders why are you so in love with him that makes you yield to his peculiar kind of thoughts and behavior?_

_Though Kiyoshi himself knew how well he hid those thoughts and this kind of conversation to those who are not close with him._

_"Do you want to feel that kind of thing?" You asked._

_He laughs it off, "No, of course. I was just curious but it doesn't sound like a good experience to face with."_

_You shrugged in agreement, but a thought crossed yours, "So do you think we can fulfill our promise?"_

_"Which one?"_

_"Since we're so civil, i thought it would not be so hard to keep living this way. Quiet and calm, and leave each other when the electron swarms are too tired to work properly in our favor."_

_Kiyoshi smiled, now only to find himself believing that kind of aspect. What could go wrong, right? He and you are only civilians that on this era where human rights and others are so well protected by law, with both jobs look so domestic on each office, maybe the worst that can separate you are the disease or slow death itself._

_"Correct, and i will protect you to keep it that way in our life."_

_"Thank you, Teppei."_

_But somehow future and life are so weird that sciences today are so not enough to be able to predict those asymmetries._

 

_\---_

 

Kiyoshi screamed.

He screamed 'cause he didn't care at all. He didn't care about the person next door in this apartment. He didn't care what time that was when he woke up screaming like this.

 

The agony beats everything, and he thought death would be much better. And he thought being those guys with those jobs would be much better right now.


End file.
